Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

These are questions relating to specific titles. General questions for movies and TV shows are here. Members get e-mailed when any of their questions are answered.

Question: Could someone please explain the goat in Xerxes' 'sex room' (for lack of a better word). The scene before Xerxes offers the hunchback Ephialtes everything, this scene begins with a shot of a goat with human hands playing an instrument and (I believe) smoking something. Does Xerxes have a goat fetish or something? Could someone kindly explain this for me.

Answer: The scene is meant to show that Xerxes has exotic creatures/slaves from every corner of the world. In the reality of the film, a goat-headed musician would certainly qualify.

Question: How is it that Gabriella is not spotted by Sharpay when the former hides in the toilet doing her solo rehearsal for "Breaking Free"? When Sharpay leaves, Gabriella just appears from behind a wall, a place which Sharpay just passed and would have noticed her.

Answer: I think it's implied that Gabriella was hiding in a stall with the door closed and then appeared after she heard Sharpay leave.

Answer: Well it supposed to be the point that Sharpay doesn't notice that she is right there. When I first saw it I didn't understand it either. But it is just meaning that Gaberiella wasn't supposed to be caught, so she moved out of the way and hid so Sharpay wouldn't see her.

Movieman123

That makes no sense.

Question: Can someone please explain the prophecy?

Answer: Sure. The whole prophecy, taken from the books, reads as follows: "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...". Thus stating that the person who will be able to defeat Voldemort will be born at the end of July, to parents who have escaped Voldemort on three occasions - this applies to Harry, born on July 31st, and also to Neville Longbottom, born the previous day. It states that Voldemort will mark his enemy, which occurs when Harry was a year old, when Voldemort failed to kill him, leaving him with his scar - the deciding event that determined that Harry was the subject of the prophecy. The power "that the Dark Lord has not" is believed to refer to Harry's capacity for love, which Voldemort lacks entirely. Finally, the "neither can live while the other survives" section is fairly straight-forward; only one of the pair will live, the other must die - the interpretation being that one must kill the other.

Tailkinker

Question: Perhaps is was my fanboy imagination, but was Peter Cullen the actor playing Barricade's hologram driver?

Answer: Actually no, Barricade was played by an uncredited actor. Here is a picture of Peter Cullen: http://usuarios.lycos.es/toxicoyeah7/petercullen.jpg.

Answer: Guest stars must share screen credit with one or two other guest stars, but Yulin wanted his name to appear alone. The producers wouldn't allow it, so Yulin decided to remain uncredited.

Cubs Fan

Question: Before the movie came out, I read about a possible scene where Anakin calls Obi-Wan "Ben". Was this in a deleted scene, or did Anakin ever call him "Ben" in any of the SW books?

Answer: Not that I've seen or read. There's no indication that Obi-Wan began to use the name until he went into exile (but was seen using it to discreetly contact the council while posing as a convict in an episode of The Clone Wars).

Tailkinker

The Clone Wars actually rectifies this, it's revealed that "Ben" was a nickname Obi-Wan picked up from Dutchess Satine in their youth.

Question: In Paris right before Jonathon meets Sasha, he orders a drink called Penot or something like that. What kind of drink is this and what difference did it make when he had the waiter add water to it?

SAZOO1975

Chosen answer: The drink is called "Pernod". It's an aniseed aperitiv, and when you add water to this kind of liquor it turns from clear to cloudy white.

Ioreth

Question: Why can Harry only see the thestrals in his fifth year? He saw his parents die when he was a baby - I know there is an explanation I just can't remember it.

Answer: Harry never saw his father die. James Potter was in another part of the house when Voldemort murdered him. It's also unknown if Harry actually witnessed his mother's death. He was in his crib, and his view may have been obstructed. He only remembers seeing a green flash and hearing Lily scream. Also, because he was an infant, he could not interpret what he actually was viewing. One has to be consciously aware when seeing death. However, Harry should have been able to see the thestrals by his second year, after he witnessed Professor Quirrell's death in Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone, although he only witnessed his death in the film. In the book, he passed out before Quirrell died.

raywest

Answer: In reality, he should have been able to see them at the end of the fourth movie but off screen when they were catching the train home.

Question: I live in Southern California and I can hear the snakes 50 yards away. Knowing that there were rattlesnakes on the plane, wouldn't people on the plane have heard them?

Answer: Rattlesnakes only make a noise when they are disturbed and some rattlesnakes will even strike without starting to rattle first.

Myridon

Question: When Homer opens the curtains from the Red Rash Inn Motel room, there are several Advertising sign posters in foreign languages. The one in the middle-right is in Korean and it advertises classes to learn English with a Texan accent. Can someone explain what this joke is about?

Answer: I believe the joke is supposed to be that the way Texans speak is a language all its own.

Damian Torres

Question: When Ursula is posing as a human, does her 'unsinging' voice change to Ariel's as well, or just when she is singing?

Answer: Well from what I remember Jodi Benson, who is the voice of Ariel, disguised her voice for Vanessa so in a way she has the same speaking voice as Ariel but a little bit of Ursula's real voice seems to come through.

Disney-Freak

Question: This applies to the movie and the book. Is there any reason why somebody can't go back in time using a Time Turner and save all those people that Voldemort killed or perhaps kill the child Voldemort? It seems like such a big plot hole so I had to check before I submitted it as a mistake.

Blibbetyblip

Answer: According to the Harry Potter Wikia, someone using a Time Turner can only stay in the past for five hours at a time, to avoid doing irreparable damage to the timeline or the time traveler themselves.

Chosen answer: To change time, even with good intentions, would be to break one of the most important wizarding laws. Hermione was only allowed access to a Time Turner under very carefully controlled conditions; Professor McGonagall had to write many letters to the Ministry on her behalf and, according to Hermione, told her a number of stories about occasions when wizards had attempted to alter time with horrific consequences. Going back to kill the infant Voldemort would simply not be an option.

Tailkinker

Question: I was watching this movie last night, and it got to the part where Nightcrawler/Storm are looking down at the kids in the cell. On the back wall there looks to be an image of Nightcrawler in the place where he teleports later on. What is this doing there?

Answer: This is mentioned in a mistake for the film. It is in fact Nightcrawler himself just before he steps forward, appearing to have just teleported into the cell. For some unknown reason, the editors used this shot before he was to have teleported.

Question: What type of boat is depicted in the Niger river scene?

Answer: The one used by Dirk was a Hunton 43 - designed by Jeff Hunton and costing about $300,000 US.

Zwn Annwn

Question: In a conversation between Senator Kelly and Colonel Stryker - regarding whether Stryker wants a war - Stryker says he was leading military operations when Kelly was still a baby. Kelly isn't young. How old are each character supposed to be? (Granted, that's technically Mystique as Kelly, but Stryker does not know that).

Answer: Given his history with Logan, Stryker could easily be in in 70s. Assuming Senator Kelly is in his 50s, that could put Stryker as a young operative when Kelly was born. In any case, he may be exaggerating.

Question: In the first scene, Harry is practising his 'Lumos Maxima' spell under his bedcovers. But in film 5 (and the books, for that matter) it is said that students aren't allowed to perform any magic outside of school. So how was he able to perform this spell without being warned/expelled from Hogwarts?

Answer: It's also shown that the Ministry have some discretion in what's allowable. Given that Harry's using a low-level spell, out of the sight of any muggles (the incidents that get him into trouble in books 3 and 5 both take place with muggles present), in a repeated fashion that would clearly indicate practice, it's reasonable to think that the Ministry would exercise its discretion in this instance and choose not to pursue the matter.

Tailkinker

Answer: There was a kid's tv show called The Electric Company and that is how new words were taught.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Electric_Company.

Rlvlk

Question: At the very end of the movie, Michael Caine states that the audience wants to be fooled as a dead Angier is shown in a water tank. What does this mean?

Answer: It means exactly what he says - the reason that illusion shows are successful is that the audience, whether they admit it or not, want to be fooled by the illusions that they see. They don't want to see what lies behind it.

Tailkinker

Question: Why is the right field foul pole named after Johnny Pesky?

Answer: Popular Boston Red Sox lore credits the nickname to pitcher Mel Parnell who later became a sportscaster. Pesky had only 6 homers in Fenway Park and all were hit near the right field foul line pole, but never off the pole. The pole is only 302 feet from home plate. The left field foul line pole is named after player Carlton Fisk.

ChiChi

Question: How do the Death Eaters escape from Azkaban when it is very tall where the explosion happened/spell hit, and they don't (or shouldn't) have their wands?

Answer: Quite simply, someone else caused the explosion from the outside. Or for that matter, seeing how the Dementors have changed sides, it is not unlikely that someone was allowed to come in to Azkaban and break the Death Eaters out.

Twotall

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.